The Two Reformations

October is Reformation Month, and October 31 is Reformation Day ( a Protestant Christian religious holiday celebrated on October 31, alongside All Hallows' Eve (Halloween) during the triduum of Allhallowtide, in remembrance of the onset of the Reformation).

A lot of Christians are not aware of the fact that there were two Reformations: the conservative Reformation and the radical Reformation. The default position of the Lutheran (conservative) Reformation was we kept any tradition that didn't contradict the Gospel. In contrast, the radical Protestant Reformation took the position if a tradition wasn't commanded in the Scripture, they wouldn't do it in worship, aka nuda scripture.

For example, the Bible says, "sing to the Lord, and make a joyful noise." So the Protestant (radical) Reformation said, we are going to sing, but the Bible never said to use a pipe organ. They literally tore out the pipe organs in their churches and threw them on the front lawns. The Bible never said anything about stained glass windows, so they smashed out the stained glass windows, painted over the murals, and only kept those things specifically commanded to be used in worship.

Still today, you will see the remnants of the two Reformations. On the one hand, you'll see beautiful Lutheran churches with all sorts of artwork, such as stained glass windows, paintings, crucifixes, and statues. On the other hand, many Protestant churches will only have bare, whitewashed walls, with the exception of an empty cross.

- Pr. Evan Scamman

The Baptism Of Jesus

Christians have wondered through the centuries why Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, for John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, but Jesus, the Son of God, had nothing to repent of. It even puzzled John, who said to Jesus, you should be baptizing me. The early Church Fathers pondered this and wrote some very insightful commentary.

John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, writes: In truth, Christ needed not baptism, neither His nor any other, but instead baptism needed the power of Christ. For that which was wanting was the crowning blessing of all. That he who is baptized should be deemed worthy of the Holy Spirit. He added this free gift of the Spirit when He came to the water. So John testifies, for this purpose, I came baptizing with water that He might be reviled to Israel, and John bore witness, I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain; this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have bore witness that this is the Son of God. John baptized with water precisely that Christ may be reviled and reviled as the repository of the Spirit on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain and the giver of the Spirit. This is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

John the Baptist poured water with his baptism and, by implication, does not pour out the Holy Spirit, and you can see why. The Holy Spirit isn't John's to give, but not so with the mightier One. He will pour out in His baptism the Holy Spirit and fire. You can't help but think about what happened on the day of Pentecost when the ascended Christ poured out His Spirit upon the gathered disciples with tongues of fire appearing upon them. Jesus can do this because the Spirit is indeed His to give.

So what is the connection between the baptism Jesus receives from John and Him being the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world? Remember, John's was a sinners baptism, yet the One and only One who had no sin of His own, He gets down with John in that water to receive it. And John gets that that makes no sense, but Jesus insists this is how we will fulfill all righteousness. Said another way - this is how the holy, innocent Lamb of God will accomplish the salvation of the world. He comes to stand with us in our sins. St Paul later goes on to put it most boldly; He made Him who had no sin to be sin for us. That in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5).

Do you not see how beautiful it corresponds to the baptism that Jesus commands? He steps down in the water to stand in solidarity with us sinners, that when we get in the water with Him at His bidding, we get to stand in solidarity with Him, the alone righteous One, the only all-holy One. By wadding into the water, He is already heading to the cross, and by pulling us out of the water with Him, He delivers to us the priceless gift that His cross has achieved. He pulls us from His own grave to share His resurrected life.

Finally, the sweet words of the Father, "You are my beloved Son, with You I'm well pleased." These words weren't merely spoken for Christ, for He has from eternity known them to be true of Himself. But the Father speaks these words over Jesus at His baptism to show us for when we stand in the waters of Jesus' baptism, the Father declares to us that we are His children, and He not only declares it to us as in Luke's Gospel but about us as in St. Matthew's Gospel. To His angels, to the demons, to all the world. He marks us as His and pleasing to Him because we are standing there with Jesus, and Jesus puts to that water everything that is His in order to bless and save us.

- Pr. Will Weedon

Last Supper And The Passover

The context of the Last Supper is the connection made with the Passover. The Last Supper happens during the Passover. Jesus and the disciples are sharing a Passover meal, and the Lord's Supper is the new Passover, or fulfillment of the original purpose of the Passover meal. Now, if we look at the parallels with the Passover meal, what happens during the Passover? We have an act of redemption that occurs in the Passover, which is that the lamb was slaughtered, and the blood of the lamb was placed over the doorpost of those who are in households of faith, and death passed over those households. This clearly points to the death and blood of Jesus Christ, where Christ's blood covers us so we escape the realities of death brought about by Adam's fall into sin.

The other part is that this is then commemorated and celebrated through the symbolic eating of a lamb, right? No! Do they eat a picture of a lamb? No, they actually eat the lamb, so they eat the instrument of redemption. A lamb is the thing that's sacrificed, and an actual lamb is the thing eaten. There is a connection between the one who was sacrificed and then the one who is eating. This is the case in all the Old Testament sacrifices; is that in those sacrifices where the animal is actually eaten. The instrument of redemption, when it is an animal that is killed that animal is eaten. There is not just a picture of the animal that's eaten; that animal is actually eaten. Part of receiving the blessing of that sacrifice is the whole act, including the sacrifice itself. The partaking of that sacrifice or eating of that sacrifice is very much part of it.

This is what's going on in the Lord's Supper. That's the context there in which Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper. Then why would we believe that anything different is happening? It's pretty; clearly, he's just using a language of sacrifice to say, well, I'm the one that is going to be sacrificed, and you are going to actually eat my body and take my blood instead of just eating the body of the lamb now you're going to receive the true body and blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

- Dr. Jordan Cooper